Letters: April 4, 2013

Interpreting the Second Amendment

Ariel Morales’ opinion (“Lanza’s arsenal is no wonder,” March 31) is straight out of the liberal talking points book.

The bottom line is, I should be able to walk on any street, in any city, at any time of day or night without fear of being robbed or assaulted. Thus, the need for the Second Amendment.

Mike Barrett

El Cajon

Why do we pay taxes?

One night, as usual, I checked my recycling bin and found that, once again, the bin had been raided for the items that have a return value. Additionally, the other items, like newspapers, had been placed in my adjacent trash bin. ...

I complained to my elected representative (Kevin Faulconer) and got the response that there’s nothing they can do. Yet, this same City Council passed a law that I can be charged with a violation if recyclables are placed in my trash.

I have no problem with taking recyclables from trash, but this is a theft that is costing the city and county. ...

Thomas Farrell

San Diego

Nothing will change

Re: “$413,000 pension rekindles debate,” April 1: Thanks to the U-T San Diego for publishing this story. If I was a union rep negotiating salaries and pensions and the other side said they couldn’t afford raises, the next thing out of my mouth would be the $413k pension for this county official.

Unfortunately for all us taxpayers, the system is locked and nothing is going to change. ...

The only difference between organized crime and the government is the government steals from us under the protection of the law.

Bill DiMasi

Jamul

Keep Filner in check

Throughout the mayoral race this past fall, I determined that Bob Filner was diabolical, belligerent and a character to be reckoned with.

He repeatedly conjured up in my mind the image of the Joker. It was with a knowing smile that I greeted Steve Breen’s image of Filner (March 28). My hope is that his remaining time in office passes quickly, and that he is held in check by the City Council to limit his negative effect on the city.

Pamela Baumgart

San Diego

April fools?

Alan McCormack (“Filner exceeds the expectations,” April 1) must be playing an April Fools joke.

He said Filner exceeded his expectations by his tough negotiations regarding the dispute with the City Council and hotel owners contract to promote San Diego tourism. Everyone but Bob agreed the contract was a good thing as written and would bring much needed revenue to our city.

Filner has been and will be divisive, argumentative, shrill and a boat rocker for the next four years. We could have had a terrific, smart, young, pro-growth, anti-corruption mayor with Carl DeMaio instead of a union sycophant nanny stater.

Thanks to citizen Ray Pearson for his thoughtful analysis of Carlsbad Unified School District’s opportunities to generate additional revenue to help balance its budget in future years (“Carlsbad school district should learn from business world,” March 29).

However, his editorial omitted one other possibility: Reducing employee pensions to a more reasonable level which is commensurate with that earned by the Carlsbad citizens who pay the property taxes to provide the school funding. There is a lot more potential savings available from this very fair and reasonable expense reduction than from the revenue-generating ideas put forth by Mr. Pearson.

These two actions combined would ensure a bright future for CUSD.

Doug Obenshain

Carlsbad

DMV experience was different

In response to Paul McClain’s letter of March 31 criticising the DMV (“DMV incompetent”), my own experience was quite different.

I had to complete transactions twice in the last month at the San Diego DMV. Personnel were kind, responsive and efficient.

Given the hundreds of people who pour into the facility daily, the staff does a remarkable job.

Mel Selzer

La Jolla

Immigration

Let’s stop this right now. These senators are doing this to get votes so they can stay in office for another term. Not until every legal citizen in the United States has a job.

That means those who are under-employed, collecting unemployment and those collecting welfare have a job.

Then and only then should we look outside our borders for illegal workers to have access to work in this country.